You don't start with an A-League team and waste how much money, from individuals and communities, as countless A-League franchises have done.

You support all regions to have a Youth team. All regions. A professional best practice youth team and from there you pick your next fully fledged franchise.

With 8 or 10 teams in the league, the FFA could actually look at who is progressing the football and business side of the operation before throwing them into the lions den or should that be bankruptcy court.

If Beau has worked it out in between defending crosses and making tackles how the hell has the "superior" game leaders at the FFA, and each individual owner has seen our money, their money and many clubs being "saved" from extinction after just six seasons.

Saturday, 26 March 2011

Finally an A-League club with a bit of sense - and it's the Gold Coast making it - albeit coming from been knocked on the head, or more like in the bank account.

Gold Coast owner Clive Palmer, Australia's fifth richest man, doesn't like losing money or indeed being in a basket case of a business - which the A-League is. No ifs no buts.

And he's heard the other less wealthy owners wondering how much longer they can support the current financial basket case - how much more can you lose FFA?

So he's come up with a cunning plan.

Get rid of all the highly paid stars....Jason Culina, Bruce Djite, Shane Smeltz and the like......

and then use the Youth team (mainly locals) plus a few seniors and keep your costs low.

And maybe start to get closer to a very small loss making model - giving youth a go - who will exceed eventually and possibly earn the club a transfer fee - and build up local pride local interest.

Now hands up all those smart football and businessmen who thought the previous models at The Jets, Adelaide, Melbourne Victory, Perth Glory, Sydney FC, Wellington Phoenix, NZ Knights, North Queensland Fury, Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast was the way to go.

And Canberra could have this model - youth team focused building crowds, building funds - in fact under this model we could have been in the league years ago.

Friday, 25 March 2011

In Canberra the football season goes for 16 weeks - we try desperately to get a ground for extra training, or a match outside of this precious 16 weeks but the ACT SportsGround Office will quickly tell you you are out of order.

We even try and book the ground as a cricket ground - and then say we were so bored we started playing football.

Whatever it takes!

After the hallowed 16 weeks season, (ACT Government would rather have empty fields allocated to other sports than allow football to use some a little more) everyone is told it's the cricket, softball or some other season.

So we mostly head off to Futsal - of course playing cricket as told and other "summer sports."

So the FFA desperate to cut losses will cut the current A-League season from August start to maybe October. Perfect, for Canberra. But a disaster for every young footballer.

What a disaster.

A seven months off-season might be okay for local sports like AFL and Rugby League whose players or fans couldn't take much more anyway - but for footballers, paricularly young ones, acquiring the skills to get and stay at the top - you just gotta keep playing.

Five month season is only good enough for Canberra - not for Australia, and not for our young professionals.

Maybe FFA can play their whole season in Canberra - ACT Goverment, Sports and Grounds would understand.

Time to fly the field Mustafa Amini and every other young player under 23 - sad times for player development, and just when the tsunami of young players had come in.

Talking about the changes in the FFA structure - in particular the appointment of "one of us" Kyle Patterson to the Media Communicaton role to assist in the connect with the fabled grassroots, SBS's Les Murray says:

It is clear then that FFA has begun hearing the voices of discontent and is finally embarking on a quest to make use, as it should, of the vast assets football’s traditional markets, clubs and fans possess.

These assets include a genuine love for football, passion and respect for the game, and a cultural yen for bringing up children as footballers.

This is football’s immense and actual grassroots. Connecting with it has always made eminent sense. Ignoring it was always loony and made for very bad business.

How this reconnection will be executed is not spelt out in the FFA statement. Neither will many be impressed by the detail in a ‘restructure’ that leaves the major areas of strategic responsibility in the same old hands.

But if the intent is there, it’s a start.

Ah the old soccer brigade. Are they really that big - did they turn up at old soccer in massive numbers - didn't it die, the old league? (I used to have a stand to myself under old soccer.)

And of course the grassroots - the burgeoning grassroots. You have to wonder if some of the people in media and ffa la la land actually ever talk to the grassroots - whoever they are.

And I don't mean the people gushing over Wayne Rooney or the Barcelona style of play - how about the 250,000 who are taking their kids from soccer to dance and then on to Maccas on a Saturday morning. Grassroots they maybe - connecting to the A-League in your city....not this week?

The sleeping giant has potential - but try turning your local chippy into the McDonalds conglomerate and maybe you'll get the size of the challenge.

AFL, League, control the sporting dollars and minds, the advertising, the media coverage and much much more. Football does well to get as much noise as it can.

The re-structure this week was caused because the FFA lost millions of dollars this year. The AFL are spending a cool $200 million on a couple of teams in coming seasons.

What we have we hold, without some serious revenue increases we need some real smarts to take us forward, to connect with our grassroots and even old soccer whoever they are.

FFA has taken us forward under John O'Neill but either he could see the writing on the wall and jumped ship or Ben Buckley isn't and never was up to the job.

When the best news FFA deliver is a media release announcing restructures you know we're in the proverbial!

Coach of the 7-10 age group? - pass it, don't dribble - you hear it all the time. We're a great team, we've only lost 2 games.

Well Amen to the USA. Here's the go. It's all about the skill, the individual even up to 10.

USA: Player Development says:

CONSIDER THIS: At the younger ages (6 to about 10), soccer is not a team sport.

On the contrary, it is a time for children to develop their individual relationship with the ball. The fact that younger children are placed into team environments is not their fault.

Do not demand that the more confident players share the ball. Encourage them to be creative and go to goal. Do the same with the rest of your players.

Work to bring all your players up to that level of confidence
and comfort with the ball. Coaches should avoid the impulse to “coach” their players from “play to play” in order to help them win the match.

Coaches should not be telling their young players to “pass rather than dribble,” to “hold their positions” or to “never” do something (like
pass or dribble in front of the goal).

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

FFA Dutch revolution continues to get watered down - by the Dutch - or so it seems.

Rob Baan and now Han Berger introduced the plan for Australian kids to learn to play football in greater numbers, with a ball at their feet.

But slowly but surely we're moving back to the future.

U12s are playing for points across Australia. Awesome move Han!

U11s have already moved to 11-a-side. Have you seen the size of the pitches? Have you seen the size of the kids. Yes the other 50,000 not the 15 in the NSW or Victorian squads at 11! Awesome for development Han!

And now the U13 National Competition, down for April, has removed the Technical Points from the "competition." So we'll have a real competition. League tables and points to die for but nothing to focus on the Technical side of the game.

This competition should be about educating the nutters, the parents, on the sideline as much as the Coach and Federations. Missed opportunity?

Simple game football - everyone says so - so why can't any city in Australia have a professional football team?

The FFA set the bar high at $6 million per year including an increasing Salary Cap component every year when the A-League started. Indeed $8 million per year seems to be nearer the mark six seasons on.

And what do we have to show for Tony Sage, Clive Palmer and Con Constantine and others millions upon millions of dollars thrown at the game. Not to mention the millions of your money the FFA have raised from our kids and chucked at various clubs, the Fury included.

I'd argue there is nothing, no legacy, no connection with the fabled grassroots, no long-term stability and yet we've poured millions into the A-League.

Canberra should be able to have a team. So should Wollongong and Tasmania.

But not under the current model. The Fury and Gold Coast have proved that.

In Canberra, if the ACT Government put in one million, TV deal gives us another million, FFA handouts maybe 500,000, ticket sales, sponsorship and other merchandise, and investors, may mean Canberra could sit reasonably comfortably in the early years on a budget of around $4.5 to $5 million.

Of course if the TV deal comes in higher at $3 million per club per year as hoped then things would change again.

So if the Salary Cap was lowered for regional clubs, and Canberra marketed itself as a team of the future, signing the best youth, playing the best youth with a view to building a "selling" club a la, Valencia (think Villa in Spain) Everton(think Rooney in UK) and various German, Dutch or Croatian clubs under the top level, top leagues, a football club could evolve.

How long would it be before a Tommy Oar, Michael Zullo, Mustafa Amini, Nathan Burns, Brucve Djite, James Holland, Adam Sarota, Mitch Langerak, Matthew Leckie or a Luke Devere were putting money into Canberra coffers?

Canberra could be that second tier club, initially, similar to the Raiders in League or Brumbies in Rugby (teams unlikely to win but still get to play).

15 home games a season is too much - initially - for Canberra fans to fill a stadium, so joining with Wollongong (4 games) Tasmania (4 games) and Canberra 7 (games) makes the whole deal more financially manageable - each area providing more funds for the coffers.

Each area allowing the FFA to get on the front foot with football fans in the regions, business in three regions and governments across the cities.

This grows the game in three areas - in time - each area could aspire to it's own A-League team when the game grows.And let's face it the FFA treatment of non-A-League aligned areas has been pathetic - at best!

Creative solutions?

FFA need to review their one size fits all salary cap policy.

Manchester United tend to have more funds than West Brom and yet they can both play professional football in the same league. West Brom even drew with Arsenal on the weekend.

So why couldn't Melbourne Victory or Sydney have more funds than Canberra - doesn't mean Canberra and other regions could win - and more importantly be an active part of the game in Australia.

FFA: How are you going to assist the game? The broader game?

At the moment your professional club base is reducing - fast.

Its your responsibility to provide the match. We'll provide the fuel. But you need to change your modus operandi for the future, the future of football, if you actually want the game to grow.

Monday, 14 March 2011

Arguably one of the best finishes to a major sporting event in Australia ever.

But did you see it?

The game was pure gold, football played on the deck, with skill and precision. Young Aussies all over the field, two Aussie Coaches and 50,000 in the stand.

Tactically the Mariners had the edge; well at least they maintained shape for so long and took their chances once young Aussie paceman Bernie Ibini- Isei came on. Didn't he make a difference.

But the roar aren't unbeaten for 27 games for nothing - they don't stop. And you always thought if they could get one back early enough, given they had 95% of the play or so it seemed - they could get another.

Heartbreak and bedlam all rounfd the place.

How could the Mariners win the penalty shoot-out, Matt Ryan, 18, had just conceded two goals in four minutes in front of 50,000. He was gone. He didn't save a penalty.

Michael Theoklitos was pumping and that was before the penalties. Confidence oozing.

The crowd was amazing, the football delightful, the drama unparallelled, and Brenton Speed the icing on the cake.

Wednesday, 2 March 2011

He's assembled arguably his best and largest squad for a tilt at the Asian Champions League but Ernie's tactical limitations appear, once more, to produce a team and performance way below the sum of it's parts.

And let's face it Gamba Osaka having not played a meaningful game this season and can hardly be at full tilt.

5-1 the result - but it was 3-0 after 9 minutes.

How can this happen to a professional team packed with experience campaigners, players fit from a short season with many of whom who have only had to endure half a season like Archie, Allsopp, Muscat, Kemp.

Michael Petkovic has saved nothing all season. Big big mistake signing this fella Ernie, but it's Ernie's lack of tactical nous to close games downs, play on the break.

So the North Queensland Fury have been booted from the league. No surprise there and no surprise they didn't have the funds to meet the FFA's rising costs of running a licence.

1. Why the hell did the FFA let North Queensland in based on a population base of just 170,000 people in Townsville. (Canberra region is 700,000 and they wouldn't come near us.)

2. And did the FFA do their due diligence on a Fury business model; if so why did the Fury have to be financially restructured in season 1 only to fold in season 2.

3. The Fury cost us, the football community, $9 million Big Ben Buckley dollars according to the FFA. So who puts up a business franchise model that is so well funded, so well-resourced it will only need $9 million of the FFA's money to keep it going, and then be dumped. In just two years. FFA are a basket case.

Chief Commercial Operations Manager at the time of entry was John O'Sullivan - he did Canberra no favours - and it seemed the FFA's commercial sense is shot to pieces. O'Sullivan is gone? Was he responsible? Is it Buckley?

Why is it impossible for a town in Australia to run a football team?

Maybe the FFA has the cost structure all wrong. Particularly for regional teams.

And now another region much like Canberra and possibly the Gold Coast could be alienated from the professional game for a long time.

We've lost two W-League teams, two A-League teams (remember NZ Knights) and never found a Western Sydney bid despite the skulduggery from the FFA Bidding process.

Does Ben Buckley really deserve another shot at the A-League?

His report card is looking bleak.

Not only has the A-League been in free-fall he's actually alienated a fair share of the future football community - and that's a crime. It takes a special talent to do that after 2006 and two World Cups.

In 2011, broadcaster SBS is supporting the initiative by encouraging primary school students to take part in The Harmony Game, a five-a-side football game to be played on Harmony Day.

“I fully support SBS’s new campaign and encourage all schools across Australia to participate in Harmony Day through ‘Harmony Game’ football matches,” Senator Lundy said.

More information on The Harmony Game is available at www.sbs.com.au

Seems Cory Bernardi and co gave this one a miss!

For more on the game between the Pollies and the Professionals read on.... Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Senator Kate Lundy pulled on her football boots today to promote Harmony Day in the Harmony Game – Pollies v Professionals.

Senator Lundy led a bipartisan team of football-playing politicians including federal ministers Stephen Conroy and Brendan O’Connor, as well as Alan Griffin, Bert van Manen and Senator Steve Fielding.

SBS presenter and former Socceroo Craig Foster led the Professionals, with team members including former Socceroos Kimon Taliadoris, Zjelko Kalac and David Zdrilic and SBS football personalities Les Murray and David Basheer.

Local Canberra players also participated in today’s game at Canberra’s Parliament House soccer ground, including Canberra United goalkeeper Jocelyn Mara, Canberra United and Matildas players Sally Shipard, and Caitlin Munoz.

“Football brings Australians from all walks of life together to share in a common passion,” Senator Lundy said. “Today’s match was all about celebrating Australia’s cultural diversity and highlighting the meaning of Harmony Day, by taking part in a game that brings people together every day.”

The Pollies team matched it with the Professionals for much of the game, with some aggressive and determined play. A second-half downpour threatened to spoil proceedings, but the teams played on, with the stars showing their skill in the end: the Professionals winning the match 7-6.

Harmony Day is celebrated on March 21 every year to celebrate the cohesive and inclusive nature of the Australian community and promote a culturally diverse society.

In 2011, broadcaster SBS is supporting the initiative by encouraging primary school students to take part in The Harmony Game, a five-a-side football game to be played on Harmony Day.

“I fully support SBS’s new campaign and encourage all schools across Australia to participate in Harmony Day through ‘Harmony Game’ football matches,” Senator Lundy said.